The Girl in the Trunk
by Yet-Another-Weasley
Summary: Takes place during season two. Brennan is faced with a forty yearold skeleton found in a trunk in the basement of a local elementary school was it just a terrible accident or a shocking homicide?
1. Chapter 1

**The Girl in the Trunk**

_Takes place during season two. Brennan is faced with a forty year-old skeleton found in a trunk in the basement of a local elementary school; was it just a terrible accident or a shocking homicide?_

I don't own Bones or its characters.

**Chapter 1**

Temperance Brennan was sitting at her desk. It was late; everyone else had already gone home for the night. They had just gotten through a case so she wasn't working over time or anything like that. She was just filing some papers and reviewing the information on her parents. The question she had asked at her mother's grave was still reeling through her head. All she wanted was to find her father, to get the answers to so many questions she had. Ever since she had found out about everything, she felt like half of her was missing. So she was sitting there asking pictures and files what she had felt silly asking her mother's grave. _Was her father a good guy? Could she ever believe he was a good guy knowing he had the man who murdered her mother killed? Would she ever get the chance to see her father again and assimilate her opinion of him?_

Part of her said that she was an investigator; she would figure this out and get her answers. Another part of her doubted everything and feared for the worst. She pulled out the dolphin she had found by her mother's tombstone, smiling despite the fact that it made her sad. This and a phone call were proof that her father was alive, and yet he might as well be dead because she was sure to never see him again. Maybe if he knew how she was tormented by this he would forget about trying to protect her and just come and see her. She could take care of herself; she didn't need to be protected. She wanted the truth.

Hours passed by as she pondered and questioned. Eventually the tick-tocking of the clock and the on again off again hum of the air-conditioning system made her drowsy. She was looking at some old family pictures she had with her; on the backs were descriptions that her parents had written. The one she was looking at now was titled "Ferris wheel." She and Russ were at a carnival in the picture, sitting at the very top of the Ferris wheel. She remembered being terrified of carnival rides, but nevertheless it looked like she and Russ were having a fun time. Another picture she picked up was one of her and her mother at the beach. They were sitting in the sand, building a sand castle. It saddened her that she didn't remember either of these events, but then again, it looked like she was only five or six in the photographs. In a couple of minutes, she found it harder and harder to focus on the pictures. She finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Brennan awoke to a click, a warm and inviting aroma, and a bright light shining through her eyelids. The click was the turning on of her desk lamp, which was the source of light shining directly at her face. The person who had turned on the light turned out to be Booth, who was holding a cup of coffee, which, in turn was the source of the pleasant aroma that she had noticed.

"Good morning, Bones," Booth smiled, "Sleep well?"

"What time is it? Is that coffee for me? Nobody else saw me sleeping in here did they?" She asked in a rush.

"Whoa, take it easy Bones," he said, "Its only seven; I just got here."

Brennan let out a sigh of relief, "Wait, its seven in the morning? Why are you here so early?"

"I had to pick up some papers; I have to be at court today at nine. I wanted to be well prepared," replied Booth as he handed her the coffee. "You know I did get this for me, but you can have it."

"Oh, uh, thanks," She took the coffee and took a sip from the cup.

"When did you get here? You haven't been here all night, have you?" Booth then asked.

She nodded, "I was doing some paper work and looking at some pictures and lost track of time. I'm glad you arrived before Dr. Saroyan."

"Yeah, I could care less if you feel asleep, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be too happy about it."

"I'm not particularly happy that I slept in here either; desks aren't comfortable at all."

Booth grinned and picked up one of the photographs from the desk. "Is that you and Russ?"

"Yeah, we took a day trip to New York City; I wanted to see _The Phantom of the Opera_ and Russ wanted to visit the Empire State Building." She replied with a smile.

"Aww, look its Bones age five," Booth said, taking up the picture of Bones and her mother at the beach.

Brennan blushed and then put the photos back into one of the desk drawers.

"You kept all of these pictures even though your brother abandoned you?" he asked her.

She shrugged, "I never took them out until recently. They were in one of my drawers with other stuff I took with me after Russ left. Up until now, they were things I wanted to forget."

"See, aren't you glad I called Russ and got him to come down here?"

"Oh, I'm still mad at you for that," she rolled her eyes, "But I guess your intentions were good."

He looked at his watch and realised he should probably get going, "At least I know I'm not all bad. Well, I have to get going; I've got a long day ahead of me. See you later, Bones."

She was about to say something about the "I've got a long day ahead of me" part, but decided against it. She simply said good luck and waved goodbye. Still, how can a person have a long day? All days are twenty-four hours long, give or take a second. How come nobody ever says they had a short day? This is exactly why she became a scientist; some things people said just didn't make sense to her.

Sighing, she looked at the clock across the room; nobody would be showing up for at least half an hour. Maybe she should call Angela and ask her to come to work earlier. Maybe she still had enough time to go home and freshen up.

Somehow she decided not to do either of those two choices. She turned on the TV to watch the news instead and then decided against that as well. The only thing on there was news of more soldiers who had been killed in Iraq and gas prices soaring even higher. The former brought back memories of being gagged and restrained, about to be killed. The latter was a reason for her to stay there instead of going home. She clicked the television off after hearing that the next segment was about how diet sodas may cause cancer. In other words, the next segment was another pointless thing that she didn't care to hear about. She knew that plenty of other things caused cancer and that soda was the least of her worries.

So she sat there patiently, hoping that the clock would go faster and someone would show up so they could get started on something. Though when Dr. Saroyan showed up in the doorway, she suddenly wished that it were earlier in the morning again and she were at home sleeping.

"Dr. Brennan," Dr Saroyan greeted, "A skeleton was found in the basement of a local elementary school. I'm heading over there now if you want a ride."

Despite the fact that getting a ride meant having to spend the time with Dr. Saroyan, at least it meant not using her own car and wasting her own gas. That was at least one plus about it. She stood up, "Sure, let me get my things and I'll be right there."

**Author's Note: This is my first Bones fanfic, so I hope you like it. I've been working on it for some time now and it's still not complete. I've been insanely busy lately with schoolwork and such so I write whenever I can. Please review and let me know what you think of it so far. By the end of the fanfic I hope to… have the squints solve the case and somehow the case will connect to Brennan's father or there will be a side plot/second plot with Brennan's father. My original idea was to have it be about Bones and finding her father, but I came up with the idea for the skeleton in the trunk and that sort of took over. Well, guess that's it. I have the second chapter written in my notebook and will type it up soon. I'll try to have that up by next week. Well, thanks for reading! )**


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you like it. I have off today until Sunday so hopefully I can write more. I only have ten notebook pages written and I hope to have it be a lot longer when I'm finished lol. Well, keep reading and please let me know what you think!_

**Chapter 2**

"Report says that two boys found the bones in a trunk when they were taking some text books down to the basement. One of them says he saw something white and 'odd-looking' in a trunk that was partly opened. The two boys dug out the trunk from under some book and play props. When they saw that it was a skeleton, they went to tell a teacher."

Brennan and Dr. Saroyan were directed over to the trunk where the skeleton had been found.

"Has anyone touched the skeleton since it has been found?" Brennan asked the police officer who was escorting them to the bones.

"No, Ma'am, unless the two boys who found it did and didn't tell us."

"Thanks," she said and then walked over to the trunk.

She lifted the lid of the trunk to find a skull and other bones. Gingerly, she examined them.

"It appears to be a female," she said aloud. "She was approximately eight to eleven years old. There aren't any apparent signs of injury or trauma."

"So why was this little girl in a trunk?" Dr. Saroyan asked, not really meaning to be answered.

"Who knows?" Brennan said, "Maybe she got trapped inside or maybe she was killed and someone hid her in here. Hopefully we'll be able to find that out."

The bones were placed in a bad which would be taken to the Jeffersonian for analysis. Once there, she could determine how old the bones were and the cause of death. For now, though, they took a look around the basement of the school.

There was dust covering everything. In fact, the only part of the basement with barely any dust was a path to the janitor's office; the janitor's office was in the opposite end of the basement than where the skeleton and trunk had been found.

"Notice how much dust and dirt is covering almost everything over here?" Brennan asked.

"These things probably haven't been touched in years," Zach said; he'd just arrived and had been briefed by Dr. Saroyan on what the two boys had found.

He moved over to a box and wiped off some of the dust. There was a label on the box that read "Oak Mill Elementary School, 1964."

"These things are over forty years old, Dr. Brennan. Our bones could be from as early as the 1960's."

"Wow, forty years is a long time for a person to be missing. Hopefully we can give closure to someone who knew the victim." Dr. Saroyan added.

Back at the lab about an hour and forty five minutes later, Brennan had laid the skeleton on the cold metal autopsy table. Dr. Saroyan and Zach Addy had just stepped into the room when she finished arranging the bones in their proper places.

"Dr. Brennan," Dr. Saroyan started. "Have you found anything interesting?"

"The victim is a female, prepubescent. The only apparent injury is to the back of the skull, suggesting that she was probably knocked out and stashed in the trunk. The blow wasn't what killed her. My guess is that she probably died of lack of food and water."

"You think this was a homicide?" Dr. Saroyan asked.

"It's a possibility that can't be ignored."

Camille Saroyan nodded, "What else can you tell me?"

"These bones are old, forty four years old to be exact. Our victim was at the school in 1962. If she was a student there, she probably would have been in fourth grade."

"That's pretty young," Angela acknowledged; she was walking past the doorway and overheard Brennan speaking. "I came to see if you were finished with the skull so I could try to get a face for our victim."

"I'm almost finished; I'll bring over the skull when I finished speaking with Dr. Saroyan."

"Okay," Angela replied. "That's fine. Oh, and Bren?'

"Yeah?" Brennan replied.

"Can I talk to you later? I need to tell you something."

"Of course."

Angela smiled and exited the room.

Cam looked puzzled, "I wonder what that could be about. Did she talk to you about her date with Hodgins yet?"

"No, I haven't heard anything. Hodgins has been unusually untalkative lately, though."

"Do you think it was a flop?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, Bones doesn't know something?" It was Booth making his entrance. Although he sounded like the usual Booth, he looked tired. "What's the conversation about?"

"Angela and Hodgins," Cam blurted out.

"Wait, Angela and _Hodgins_? Way to go Hodgins!" Booth said. "Anyway, what are you guys up to?"

"I'm cleaning up this skull so Angela can give us a reconstruction," Brennan replied, "How did the trial go?"

Booth sighed, "Brutal. You know I actually sort of sounded like you squints when I was explaining a few things and I learned something new today."

"Oh? What's that?"

"It's a hell of a good thing that I didn't decide to become a forensic anthropologist." Brennan rolled her eyes at him. "So, what've we got here?"

Brennan replied sarcastically, "I thought you didn't like forensics and squints."

"Hey I like you guys, well, when I can understand you. Most of the time all I hear around here is 'Wa, wa, wa, wa, wa,' like on Charlie Brown." He said jokingly.

She ignored his comment and continued, "A skeleton was found in a trunk in the basement of a local elementary school. The victim is a female and cause of death was probably starvation. She suffered a blow to the back of the head which most likely knocked her out for some time. She was locked in the trunk which was down in the basement for around forty years."

"Have you identified 'im…" Booth started.

"You mean _her_," Brennan corrected.

"Have you identified _her_ yet?"

"No, not yet; I'm working on it. I need to go give Angela this skull so we can get a face and ID. If we have a picture of what she looked like when she wasn't just bones locked in a trunk, maybe we could match it to a school idea or missing persons file."

Zach Addy now entered the room, "Dr. Brennan, the trunk has arrived. Do you want me to get started on it?"

"Sure, Zach, I'll be there in a few minutes just after I give this skull to Angela."

Zach nodded and went to get started.

"I'm going home to change," Booth said. "I'll be back in about forty minutes." He headed out to the parking lot.

**Author's Note: Well, there's chapter two. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think! Chapter three should be up later in the week. )**


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for reading and reviewing! Well, here's chapter three. -)_

**Chapter 3**

Angela was found sitting alone, drinking a glass of ice tea and having a salad for lunch. Brennan was bringing her the skull so they could identify the victim.

"Hey Ang," she said when she entered the room. "Are you okay?"

Angela responded, "I'm fine; I'm just thinking about things."

"I know I'm not good with the whole people thing or the whole relationships thing, but is something going on between you and Hodgins?"

"No, that's the problem. Things would be perfect and that's what I'm afraid of. I don't want to lose him as a friend. I don't want things to be awkward if something went wrong. If we broke up and still had to work here together, things would be bad for everyone."

"You two know each other and care about each other. Chances are that you'll be good for each other. Be happy, Ang; take a chance." Brennan smiled.

"He thinks I don't like him now."

"Hodgins, I doubt it. He probably thinks some alien made you tell him that you couldn't see each other."

Angela smiled, "Thanks. Do you have the skull? I'll get started on that."

Brennan placed the skull on the table, "Let's hope you can show us what this girl looked like. Maybe we can find someone who remembers her."

"I'll see what I can do."

Angela sat at the computer, the skull sitting on the desk. She put her headphones on and got to work. It took her a whole two hours to get an accurate picture of their victim, or at least as accurate as she could get it. She projected the 3-D up and just stared.

It was hard for her not to feel anything when they had a victim like this. She was okay with older victims, but an eight year old didn't even get a taste of life. The most she could do was hope that she hadn't been murdered. What if the poor girl's parents had passed away or had forgotten about her? She wondered if they had assumed she was murdered or abducted; how could a parent go on thinking that was what had become of their child?

Brennan came into the room, "Hey, you okay?"

Angela didn't hear her; all she could hear was Chopin's 'Nocturne in G Minor.' Eventually she did notice that Brennan was in the room and she took off her headphones, "Hey, sorry, did you say something?"

"Yeah, I asked if you were okay," Brennan responded. "Is this our vic?"

Angela nodded, "Did you find anything in the trunk?"

"Actually, yes we did," she said, "We found out victim's blood on the lock. I'm thinking that the lock may have been what knocked her out."

"So what was she down in the basement for? Isn't it odd that a young girl in first or second grade would be down there? I know I would be afraid to be down in the school basement alone," Angela stated.

"Maybe she was looking for something for a teacher. She could have been getting something out of the trunk when the lid fell on top of her. Being small, the heavy trunk could have knocked her out and also knocked her inside, locking her in there."

"Well, a story like that is more plausible than murder at least."

"We still can't rule it out just yet," Brennan replied, "So, a match for the victim yet?"

"It's still searching through the database right now," Angela said.

After a few minutes a match finally came up on the screen. The picture showed a young girl, aged eight, with light brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles. Her name was Allison Leitz and she'd been missing since 1968. After six months of investigation and searching, the case was closed. Angela printed out the picture and other information to give to Brennan.

Meanwhile, Seeley Booth was arriving at his apartment. As he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed a pick-up truck that he'd never seen in the area before. Dismissing it, he went inside.

Throwing his things aside, he got a quick shower and then decided that instead of heading back to the Jeffersonian he'd get some much needed sleep. After dressing, he picked up his phone and dialed Brennan's cell.

"Temperance Brennan," she picked up her cell phone.

"Hey Bones, its Booth," he said in the phone. "I think I'm just going to take it easy tonight and I'll see you in the morning."

Lately he'd been getting less and less sleep and gaining more and more stress. What he needed right now was at least eight hours sleep and a big cup of coffee in the morning. That would definitely do him some good.

She sighed and then said, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye Bones," he clicked the phone off and put it back on its cradle.

He closed the blinds and the room went semi-dark but it was dark enough for him to go to sleep. After a few minutes he was fast asleep. His dream was strange. He dreamt of a tall man wearing all black. The man's face was covered in shadows and could not be properly seen. That was the whole dream; Booth tried to figure out who this man was while he just stood there motionless. When he woke up, he was still thinking about the man and trying to figure out who he was and why he was in his head.

He got out of his bed and realised that he was going to be late. Yesterday he told Bones he would be there at nine o' clock and it was already nine fifteen. As quickly as he could, he dressed and grabbed some coffee before heading out the door. However, just as he was going out the door, something stopped him. He noticed a plain white envelope half sticking out from beneath his door. Nonchalantly, he picked up the envelope and opened it up. It read:

_Agent Seeley Booth,_

_Ask Anne._

Booth really didn't know what to make of it or what it meant. He picked up his things and headed to his care; deciding to bring the note with him to the Jeffersonian. Maybe Bones and the rest of the Squints could figure out what it was or who had sent it to him.

When he arrived at the Jeffersonian, Brennan approached him immediately.

"Our victim's name is Alison Leitz," She said.

"Oh good, you got an ID," Booth replied happily as she hadn't noticed he wasn't on time. "Keep talking."

"She was reported missing in 1968. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. Our vic also had a sister named Anne whom she was very close with. Both lived with their mother and father in the DC area. After the girl's disappearance, they moved to New Jersey. Angela is going to call them and tell them the news."

"Wait, what did you say her sister's name was?" he asked

"Anne, why?"

"I got a note under my door this morning that said to ask Anne. I didn't know what it meant, but maybe its got something to do with the case."

"Well, I don't see how you can ask her. Our vic's sister has been deceased for four years now; she died of breast cancer."

Booth looked disappointed, "Where is she buried?"

"Virginia, just outside of DC," Brennan said.

Booth grabbed his keys from her desk and looked at her, "Would you happen to know where the cemetery is and how I can get there?" He had the strangest feeling that there would be something at the woman's grave.

"Only if I can go with you," she said and followed him out the door.

_Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter written. I've had so much school stuff to do (projects, homework, essays, etc) and didn't have any time to type this up. Well, let me know what you think! )_


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